Last Call iPhone app lets your blood alcohol level stay on the right side of the law

In truth, there's little reason to need to precisely calculate your blood alcohol volume. The legal limit in the States is so low that an Irishman can get you arrested simply by belching into your face. If you've had more than a single drink in the last few hours, you're likely over the legal limit... and even if you aren't, cops pulling you over have quotas to make.

Still, from a purely scientific perspective, I love the Last Call iPhone app, which allows me to measure my likely drunkenness at any time. You simply plug in what booze you're drinking, when you drank it and how much you weigh and it tells you whether you are above or below the legal limit. Well soused, positively jactitating? It'll let you look up numbers of taxi cab companies or even DUI attorneys.

Well, given that I don’t drink pisswater beer, I probably can’t have three. But it’s still a little harder than some people think to hit .08 BAC. And a lot easier than other people think! I’ve heard a (distant) relative complain that she “only” had twelve beers before getting her DUI. Well, uhh, what’s a lot then?

DCulberson, that’s surprising. I’m actually short myself — about five foot seven — and I had five beers a while back, bicycled home (in Berlin — there’s bike paths!) and was unfortunately pulled over and breathalyzed. I clocked in at .024, as I recall, after an hour not drinking.

John, .024 would pass in the US; our limit in most states is .08. How long of a period did you have the five beers over? If it was a few hours, that’s probably about right.

A friend of mine almost got a DUI on her bicycle here in the US. I didn’t even know what was possible. I’m confused as to why they even have bars, then: you can’t drive home, you can’t ride home, you can’t walk home (public intoxication). Sheesh.

A lot of US states have two levels: DUI (Driving Under the Influence) at 0.10 or 0.08, and then DWAI (Driving While Ability Impaired), which is a lesser charge invented to pull in more revenue, as far as I’m concerned.

See, 0.05 is barely even aware that you’ve drunk anything at all. As a small guy myself, I have figured out that that is about 1 drink in an hour. So if I go have a beer with friends after work, I need to wait over an hour to be totally safe.

This might not sound like much, but you have to remember that in most of the US, if you want to then go to a restaurant, you’re going to have to drive. If you want to go home, you’re going to have to drive. If you get a call and need to meet your girlfriend somewhere, you’re going to have to drive. You have to drive everywhere, because there effectively is no public transport and everything is spread out.

I have quite a few friends who have been hit with the DWAI nonsense, and all of them came to the realization that, basically, they just cannot drink if they have any possibility of driving again that day.

This has nothing to do with safety. It’s just playing on the public hysteria about drunk drivers seeking out school crossings and massacring children with their careening vehicles. You have to be pretty drunk before you are a worse driver than you are if you are distracted by the stereo or, way worse, sleepy–both totally legal and accepted driving risks.

Here in Japan, the limit is… nothing. What happens is they pull you over and ask you to breath in their face. If they detect any alcohol at all, they breathalyze you and if you blow any at all, you’ve just gotten a major ticket.

This doesn’t bother me at all, though, because public transport is plentiful. In rural areas where it isn’t as reliable, they have a great service where you call a number and two guys in a tiny car come to the parking lot and one of them drives you home while the other follows. It costs no more than a cab, and you get your car home. This is great for when a dinner out becomes a night out drinking with friends.

Basically, what upsets me about the US laws is that they are simultaneously too strict, while the society offers no other option.